During the time of the first round of consents to the consecration of Fr. Lawrence, he was pushed repeatedly to make declarations of loyalty to The Episcopal Church. Some members of standing committees seemed to want an absolute, lifetime pledge. My plea is that members of standing committees will see that such an absolute pledge to any church organization carries a person beyond what scripture, tradition, and reason would require. It would be swearing to something to which God won’t swear.
Human attempts to organize our lives “fall short of the glory of God.” Religion ”” the acts of humans to respond to God ”” is not exempt. In biblical tradition, religion is under greater scrutiny. The standard for examination is the canon of scripture to which the canons of the church point.
In this time of palpable tension for those of us in The Episcopal Church, may diocesan bishops and standing committees not hold the bishop-elect of the Diocese of South Carolina to a standard to which God would not subscribe.
Shades of the Inquisition perhaps…Interesting that TEC considers loyalty to itself vice loyalty to the Word of God. To adapt a phrase from the Committee on Un-American Activities, “Are you or ever have been an orthodox Christian?”
What was made clear by this insistence (and it is recurring?) is that institutional loyalty is the ultimate in TEC, more than loyalty to God’s word or other things. Someone like Martin Luther might have a thing or to to say about that.
It’s a time of choosing sides. When there’s a mutiny on a ship there is no nuetral side. You either support the captain or the mutineers. They are now calling for all to declare who wants to stays on the ship with the new crew or who gets in the lifeboat with the captain.
If Bishop-Elect Lawrence receives consents, I trust that he will give his own consent at his consecration. I would hope him to be a faithful Episcopalian in the manner of Bishop Howe, and another thoughtful conservative voice in the HOB and the Church.